Row over Telangana youth’s body, MLA assaults official

New Delhi, July 21, 2011 (PTI)



Pro-Telangana protests took an ugly turn on Thursday with a TRS MLA allegedly beating up a senior official of Andhra Pradesh Bhawan here after authorities refused to allow inside their premises the body of a 23-year-old who committed suicide on Wednesday, upset over the delay in the formation of a separate state.



High drama was witnessed at Ashoka Road, where the Andhra Pradesh Bhawan is located, in the afternoon when the TRS MLAs led by T. Harish Rao, nephew of party chief K. Chandrashekar Rao, barged into the office of senior official Chander Rao.



Television footage showed Harish Rao beating up Chander Rao after a long argument over why the authorities refused to allow the body of Adhireddy, which was found hanging from a tree near India Gate on Wednesday, inside the Andhra Pradesh Bhawan.



Harish Rao and other TRS leaders engaged in a verbal duel with Chander Rao, the Officer on Special Duty, for around five minutes at the end of which he slapped him twice on his face.



Outside the Bhawan, Congress MPs led by Madhu Goud Yaskhi and others staged a dharna and shouted slogans against Chander Rao and the Resident Commissioner for "playing politics" by not allowing permission for the body to be brought inside the premises.



An official spokesperson of the Bhawan said the TRS protesters barged into the Office of the Resident Commissioner, ransacked the room and beat up Chander Rao "badly".



They also had a heated argument with Resident Commissioner Rajat Bhargav and other officials present in the room.



Sources said the authorities of the Bhawan wrote to Delhi Police asking them to directly transfer the body from the Ram Mohar Lohia Hospital to the airport from where it was to be flown to Hyderabad.



However, pro-Telangana activists wanted the body to be brought to the Bhawan for public to pay respects. The sources said the authorities took such a step to avoid any kind of untoward incident inside the Bhawan given the tense situation owing to the statehood demand.



Chandrasekar Rao's son and TRS MLA Ramarao condemned the "highhandedness" of the authorities and asked how the Resident Commissioner could decide where the body should be cremated.



"Who is he to decide? The family of the youth will decide where to take and where not to...," he said.


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